Holst’s The Planets is so magnetic that it’s understandably an audience hit. But don’t be mistaken by its populous appeal. As with any truly great work, it’s as much at home on a classics concert as a pops.

But that’s an easy fact to forget going into it with the made-for-Hollywood themes of Jupiter running through the ol’ noggin (At the risk of sounding like a lay person, one particular melody conjures up visions of the movie Braveheart.). Hearing it tonight at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s final Philharmonics Series concert, it was a reminder of the work’s vivacity, but mostly its versatility.

Britain always had a small identity problem in the world of classical music until composers such as Vaughn Williams and Holst. It lacked a widely appealing national sound, the way the Russians, Germans, Italians and even the French had. Music from these countries are as identifiable as their flags.

In The Planets, Holst captures English folk melodies and the stately and pomp nature of English culture to create one of the great musical masterpieces out of Britain, but what makes this work so great is that it also features Holst’s take on French impressionism and German-made Romanticism/post-Romanticism. Moreso, he creates an extraterrestrial, twilight-zone sound that’s unlike the music of any country. It’s the perfect balance of strange and exotic to prescribe sound to planets in the solar system.

With little surprise, a beefed up RPO — including seven French horns and a host of extended woodwind and percussion instruments — successfully delivered the brass blasts of “Mars,” the sweep of “Jupiter” and the outer-realm of “Neptune” to the audience. Particularly stunning was Stefan Reuss’ cello solos in the impressionistic calmness of “Venus.” The only snags of the night were the snare drum skipping a little ahead of the orchestra the war march in “Mars” and the Rochester Oratorio Society’s pared down woman-only ensemble searching a little too hard for their chromatic pitches from off-stage to finish off the work.

Still, the work has an audience recognition that was felt not only by the fuller-than-usual Thursday night Eastman Theatre crowd, but also by the applause and cheers that followed.

The orchestra ended the night — and the season in the pre-renovated Eastman Theatre — with Haydn’s theatrical “Farewell” Symphony. In traditional manner, the work requires that members of the orchestra walk off the stage during the final, tag-on trio of the final movement until the only personnel left on stage are two lone violins. As an added bit of comedy, the theater lights were also dimmed and the performers flipped off stand lights before walking off (in Haydn’s time, the musicians blew out candles). The only regret was that the orchestra had to come back on stage for a bow, or else I imagined there would have been a duel over which lucky musician was allowed to walk off first. (And what a joke that could have been, if the orchestra actually left for real!)

While the orchestra and its audience certainly say “farewell” to the Eastman Theatre as we known it, the changes won’t be as drastic as seem to be marketed (though, the added acoustical help will be welcomed by the tightening of the space, hardening of the theater walls and extra box seats). The first phase of renovations, the stage, was really the most significant change in both look and sound. The Eastman Theatre will still be there next year as most of us remember, only with a few helpful adjustments.

Leave a Reply

Jeff Spevak has shaken the hand of Johnny Cash. He has done a shot of whiskey with Bo Diddley. He sang with Tina Turner for 12 seconds. His Top 10 albums of all time include 17 by Bob Dylan. He likes dogs, the Cleveland Indians and wine. His favorite books are Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He likes to eat Chilean sea bass.

Catherine Roberts: Lead Local Editor/Life, is the mother of two teenage boys. She's so used to being overbooked that when there's a spare moment, she feels the needs to know what's going on around town to fill the gap. Favorite things in Rochester include the museums, Red Wings games and concerts. But most of the time, you'll find her and her husband, Chad (the Democrat and Chronicle's overnight editor), at a bowling alley, the sidelines of a ball field or walking a dog in their Irondequoit neighborhood or Durand-Eastman Park. If you have any ideas, please email at cathyr@DemocratandChronicle.com

Diana Louise Carter was born at Rochester General Hospital the same year it opened and reared in Bristol, Ontario County. After college and grad school, her first reporting job was on a small newspaper in Western Massachusetts. She returned to Rochester in late 1987 to work for the Democrat and Chronicle. Carter covers agriculture and banking. She lives in the Upper Monroe neighborhood of Rochester with her husband and three children.

Anna Reguero, a former Democrat and Chronicle music critic, a clarinetist and a graduate of Eastman School of Music, is a doctoral student in musicology at State University of New York at Stony Brook.